Pitchmarks #60 - 18th August 2024 - "just torn flags in the breeze"
Those who fall under golf’s beguiling spell have various rabbit scrapes down which they can disappear. For some this might be the intricate complexity of The Rules (for whom “rabbit scrapes” would read “animal holes”); for others it could be technology. Some are confused by agronomy; others focus on psychology. Golf is a perplexing field, played over cryptic grounds.
One other such angle, down which a few folk happily tumble, is into design - the study of the finest courses. It is hard to put into words that feeling I get when staring at truly great architecture, as I did once again at Addington this week. It’s a blend of awe and gratitude, with a dash of humility, and often confusion that this silly old game can include in among its many fairly normal pitches such timeless, courageous artistry. We fools can have fun chipping squash balls down carpeted corridors, and yet some of these cathedrals of the game are so dazzling, so brilliant as to transcend sport and become the sort of divine artworks - to me at least - that take my breath away, time and time again.
These days I only linger at the fringes of the architecture community, for to delve too deep into this scrape would be dangerous for me, but I am perpetually delighted that I came to know just a little about the craft behind the holes, and that it brings an extra dimension to my love for this game. Half a life ago, I was a greenkeeper for a while, and while searching for information about Mitcham Golf Club, whose acid grassland I cared for on a primal level, I stumbled across GolfClubAtlas with its merry band of enthusiasts, and started to dream of further exploration.
Through various trips I found not only some wonderful golf but some lovely people, too. Tony M and I first stepped onto both New Zealand and Woking together, among others; both places at which I would come to spend meaningful chunks of my time. We took turns to hammer west to the extraordinary Pennard, where a smiling Sean A would be waiting, rain or shine. But always in the wind. Sean would years later introduce me to Cleeve Hill, shortly after Dai T’s kind tour round Minch Old…the list goes on. Mark C and I would meet on the first tee at Deal, and ten minutes later, three wretched strokes and a thinned chip would secure my opening half in four, to the eternal disgust of Mark and the ghost of the architect. That friendship has since crossed borders and oceans with our clubs in tow; the trips of a lifetime.
This community has brought me friends and experiences that I cherish, and my life in golf has granted me a few chances to repay this stuff, showing other intrepid addicts the myriad glory of the heathlands. Bob and Betty C in the Dining Room at New Zealand, my old Cairn begging hopefully at their ankles. And many others besides, but I would have to spend the rest of my life showing people these local masterpieces to repay the debt to GolfClubAtlas, for it changed both my path and my palate, for the better. Mark C once said to me that “life’s too short to play bad golf courses”, though the additional lens that this love of architecture grants me provides plenty of patience for my own “bad golf”, albeit across sacred landscapes.
A few of these connections are still only “internet friends”, and so it is that the benevolent dictator of this marvellous resource and I are yet to meet in person. But Ran M and I have spoken once or twice, and exchanged messages across the clouds, and it was humbling to be asked to do another interview, on the back of “Grass Routes”, and to read his kind words in the introduction (here). Maybe one day we’ll wait together for the grazing cattle to clear at Minch, or gaze down on Cheltenham from the old bent tree at Cleeve, and it will be full circle, for without this thing he created, I don’t know if I’d still be playing golf today. Or writing…
Reading back through the first interview, now somehow five years ago, I am filled with gratitude for what golf has done for me. Gratitude for a glorious game back at Woking with Mike D, Ran’s emissary for this second interview, alongside our mutual friend Robin D and Mike’s brother Jeff. Yet another delightful afternoon delving into golf’s rich stream of friendship and fun. Gratitude for the journey back to golf that “Grass Routes” documents, since walking out from under Darwin’s gaze across Hook Heath. Gratitude for the ever-bulging bucket list that hanging around with such people ensures…
And gratitude for the last six words of the penultimate paragraph in this latest interview, which came tumbling out of nowhere but which sum up - almost as well as the 30,000-odd words in “Grass Routes” - the sort of golf that I have come to love, largely thanks to the likes of the GolfClubAtlas community: “just torn flags in the breeze”. In this life, I don’t need a great deal more…
With sincere thanks to Mike Dutton & Ran Morrissett, and all the other paths and thresholds that I have crossed as a result of GCA. Too many to mention.
Interview 2 - July 2024:
https://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/feature-interview-no-2-with-richard-pennell/
Interview 1 - July 2019:
https://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/feature-interview-with-richard-pennell/
Mike Dutton’s own interview:
https://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/feature-interview-with-mike-dutton-2/
And Robin Down’s, about a book I cherish!:
https://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/feature-interview-with-robin-down/
Grass Routes - in the bar at Woking last Friday, David C (43 years a member) said he was half way through the book and 'parts of it were rather good'….so I’ve finally ordered a copy. I can add it to the pile of 50 other books here that I plan to read if and when ever I play fewer rounds, so as to make the time! And you can perhaps sign it for me …. once I finally find a date to bring you to SGH and/or Saunton?
The GCA interview was every bit as enjoyable as the blog.